The Navy Specialty Mark, 1866-2016

As we move toward a Navy where Sailors may hold multiple occupations, rating titles will no longer be applicable. 

NAVADMIN 218/16

Two-thousand-sixteen has been a year of dramatic change with regards to the naval uniform.  Not a single seabag of any current member of the United States Navy will emerge untouched by the profound changes that have been mandated this year through the Navy Uniform Matters Office.  

Although the decade-long saga of the controversial blue-and-gray camouflage Navy Working Uniform has entered its final chapter and the same Navy headgear is now worn by both male and female personnel, the latest change might prove to be the most profound.  A tiny part of the standard enlisted dress uniform is to be eliminated after almost 150 years, and this will literally change the way Sailors view their occupations.     

Detail of an illustration by H. Charles McBarron, Jr., from the collections of the Hampton Roads Naval Museum, showing a Boatswain's Mate 1st Class dress uniform, behind typical officer uniforms of 1898. Aside from the elimination of port (left sleeve) and starboard (right sleeve) positioning of rating badges in 1949, the appearance of the rating badge itself remained fairly constant from 1886 until 2016.  By comparison, nothing resembling officers' service and full dress uniforms such as those shown here is worn by today's naval officers.   

In contrast to the rather ostentatious gold trimmings symbolizing prestige or power on officers' uniforms that have come and gone over the last 241 years, the more modest specialty mark of the enlisted uniform has been an ubiquitous symbol of Navy professionalism since the first eight types were authorized in December 1866.  

Emerging with the "New Navy" of the 1880s, the positioning of the roughly one square-inch occupational symbols between the eagle (commonly called a "crow") and the chevrons of the petty officer rating badges first authorized in 1886 has remained essentially unchanged since America's emergence as a world-class naval power. 

This rating badge of a coxswain, circa-1898, the oldest one of its kind in the Hampton Roads Naval Museum, can be seen in the museum's Steel Navy gallery.  The specialty mark is the crossed-anchors symbol at the center of the badge.  The image has not been "flipped." The eagle atop the rating badge faced either right or left depending upon which sleeve it was worn.  After the Second World War, a Sailor sporting this rating badge would been known as being a Boatswain's Mate 3rd Class. (Photograph by M.C. Farrington)

Long before the advent of the Steel Navy, Sailors in certain specialized shipboard occupations began embroidering their own specialty marks to distinguish themselves from the rest of the crew.  A woodcut in the Naval Magazine of November 1836, for example, shows a Boatswain's Mate with crossed anchors on his jacket sleeve. 

Nestled within another illustration by H. Charles McBarron, Jr. from 1966, we can see roughly what the enlisted specialty mark of a Boatswain's Mate looked like during the 1830s.  Although no regulations specified the wearing of such occupational symbols at the time, the specialty marks Sailors had been putting on their own uniforms for years were ultimately incorporated into regulations drafted in 1866.  

Although a general sleeve insignia for petty officers was authorized in 1841, the uniform regulations of December 1, 1866 introduced eight specialty marks for petty officers.  The ever more sophisticated naval vessels coming into the fleet over first few decades that followed, particularly during the 1880s, necessitated further division of labor.  With it came more specialty marks, including those for the rank of Chief Petty Officer, established in 1893.  Five years later, there were 15 specialty marks for enlisted personnel.  A century later, there were 71.

A World War I-era Chief Storekeeper rating badge.  The job specialty itself, along with its specialty mark, was merged into the Logistics Specialist rate in 2010. (Jim Leuci Collection)

Over the twentieth century, hundreds of different ratings emerged with new technologies and missions, then disappeared or merged into other rates as those technologies and missions receded.  At the time the decision was made in September 2016 to replace Navy ratings with an alphanumeric Navy Occupational Specialty code (with no corresponding specialty mark), 57 distinct specialty marks remained.

A closeup of a Master Chief Boatswain's Mate rating badge from the late-1950s. (Jim Leuci Collection)

Although specialty marks might not completely disappear, it appears that they will never symbolize the jobs that U.S. Navy Sailors do in the same way that they have for the last 150 years.  Nevertheless, you can trust that the Hampton Roads Naval Museum and the other museums under the Naval History and Heritage Command will preserve these small yet profound symbols of professionalism in our collections as long as the Sailors of today  have a job to accomplish.  

In Praise of the Divine Miss M

By Joseph Judge

Hampton Roads Naval Museum Curator

The actor Will Smith, in one of his movies, donned a pair of sunglasses and told Tommy Lee Jones, “The difference between you and me is that I make this look good.”   Since 1993 one person in particular has made the Hampton Roads Naval Museum look good:  Marta Nelson Joiner.  Now, in 2016, she is leaving us for a well-deserved retirement.

This is what HRNM looked like in 1994.  The can of Coke was not Marta’s.

Marta came on board at the museum’s original home, the Pennsylvania House on the Naval Station, where she almost immediately plunged into the biggest project in our history: the relocation to Nauticus in downtown Norfolk in 1994.  Moving an entire museum required extensive and daily reviews of complicated exhibit elements, audio-visual material, security cameras and artifact transportation.  The museum opened successfully, no small thanks to Marta.


Cuba Libre (above and below) – two images of the Spanish-American War centennial exhibit.

After that, the problem is not what to say about Marta but how to stop saying things about Marta.  She designed the museum’s largest and most ambitious temporary exhibit in 1998: Cuba Libre: The Spanish-American War in the Caribbean.  Marta had to fit the new exhibit over the museum’s permanent exhibits – no small feat – and the result was informative and beautiful. 

Some of us, including Marta on the right, the day the Wisconsin opened.  The smiles are real.

Marta was also instrumental in design and planning for the second biggest project in the museum’s history: the opening of the battleship Wisconsin was an attraction in 2000.  Marta helped to plan the tour route, the location of docent stations, the development of a logo and a wide variety of shipboard interpretive signage in 2001.  When it opened, the Wisconsin was the most popular tourist attraction in the state of Virginia.  In one of the more exciting episodes of her career, the author and Marta were detained in the shipyard after working on the Wisconsin in December.  We were trying to find some coffee and get warm and ended up in the wrong place.  We celebrated our eventual release back in Norfolk.


Marta did not rest on any laurels, then or later.  Highlights of her illustrious work include the following: 

• Design and fabrication of the Wisconsin’s ship’s silver exhibit.  This sensitive assignment included innovation with security cameras and lighting. 

• Design of an exhibit for a “Bully the Moose” exhibit aboard USS Theodore Roosevelt.  The exhibit, featuring a real moose head and information about the 26^th president, required relocation while the TR was in the yard for refueling. Mrs. Joiner travelled to the ship on the stressful day after 9/11 to manage the project.

• Design of a new temporary exhibit gallery - the “Forecastle Gallery,” a shared space with Nauticus.  Mrs. Joiner pushed for creation of a temporary exhibit space (the first in the building). 
  
  
  

  

• Installation of a major permanent exhibit that highlighted the development of the Naval Station and the 1907 Jamestown Exposition.  1907: The Jamestown Exposition and the Launching of the New Steel Navy is a beautiful and insightful contribution to the history of the region and the history of the city of Norfolk.  It was also an important contributor to “Sail Virginia,” Norfolk’s contribution to the Jamestown 2007 commemorative events.   

• In 2011 Marta was the museum’s point person for remaking shipboard exhibits aboard USS Arleigh Burke (DDG 51), dedicated to Admiral Arleigh Burke.  Mrs. Joiner designed the new exhibits and oversaw their fabrication and installation.  The exhibit opened on the 20^th anniversary of the ship’s original commissioning, 4 July 2011.
  
  
  

  

• In 2014, she was an integral part of the design team working  on “Stewards of the Sea,” an exhibit highlighting the Navy’s environmental efforts.  This high-tech, hands-on exhibit represents an important step forward for Navy exhibits and Nauticus.  It provides immersive scenarios for the visitor to learn about the Navy’s environmental measures while at sea, to include its protective measures with the marine life it encounters.

I have not even mentioned exhibits at the Navy Tour & Information Center, the MAC Terminal, the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, Fort Story, Little Creek, Commander Navy Region Mid-Atlantic or numerous others.


She completely redesigned the museum’s signature publication, The Daybook, twice, most recently in 2015.  And in her spare time she has corralled problems with the museum’s IT systems, security cameras, telephones, all while solving graphic design problems that crossed her desk each day.  And I need it by Tuesday.


Accreditation is the gold standard of museum performance.  We obtained it in 2008, in no small part because of the professionalism of our publications and exhibits.  This hard-working woman served as the manager of an exhibit design and fabrication program that welcomed over 3,470,000 visitors to exhibits in Nauticus between 1994 and 2015; and welcomed over 2,500,000 visitors to the battleship Wisconsin during the period of Navy ownership (2000-2009).

Marta in her office  receiving some news about a broken exhibit.  The sign in the background was at first infamous, then just famous.  Note the (then) state-of-the-art Macintosh computer at the back left.


The rest and best part of the story lies in the years of laughter and tears that we enjoyed with the divine Miss M.  Some years, tears outweighed the laughter, but there is no helping that part of life, and we were always there for each other.  Bon voyage Marta, HRNM loves you.

120 Years Ago: USS Texas Joins the Fleet

USS Texas, depicted in a Koerner & Hayes print made between 1897 or 1989 (Naval History and Heritage Command Image via Flickr).

By Jerome Kirkland 

Hampton Roads Naval Museum Educator

In August of 1895 the United States got its first steel battleship.  USS Texas was this first battleship, beating USS Maine by just one month.  Texas was built at the Norfolk Navy Yard, spent much of her service based in Norfolk, and was eventually sunk in the Chesapeake Bay for target practice, which demonstrated the importance of Hampton Roads to the new Steel Navy.  Texas's production faced years of delays and was largely outdated by the time the ship was launched, but, like the ABCD Ships that preceded her, USS Texas was still an important step forward for American shipbuilding. 

Both USS Texas and USS Maine were authorized by Congress in August of 1886 as second class battleships. “Second class” meant the ship was meant more for coastal defense rather than as an oceangoing battleship meant to take the fight to a foreign country.  Although USS Maine was originally meant to be an armored cruiser, this role changed during the construction process, resulting in two “near” sister ships. Maine and Texas represented the latest in battleship construction at the time of their design and early construction, but delays in their completion resulted in outdated ships by their commissioning nine years later.  Chief among the “advanced” design elements that became outdated by their launch was the “en echelon” placement of the main gun turrets.  This meant that for USS Texas, the forward turret was placed to the port (or left) of the centerline, while her aft turret was placed to starboard (or right), and not centered like on modern ships.

USS Texas postcard by the Rotograph Company of New York (Hampton Roads Naval Museum Collection).

After her launching, a series of defects and mishaps earned Texas the nickname “Old Hoodoo.” While undergoing sea trials before her commissioning, several deck plates buckled and cement near the keel cracked.  These problems were fixed by reinforcing the hull and brackets supporting the deck.  In 1896, Texas ran aground off Newport, Rhode Island.  After being freed she was sent to a shipyard in New York for repairs, where she sank due to a broken valve yoke.  Three months later, in February 1897, while anchored in Galveston, Texas, the tide pushed the battleship aground in a mud flat.  It took a tug at high tide the next day to get her free.

A Whitehead Torpedo, designed in Britain, made in Germany, and carried aboard the ill-fated Spanish cruiser Vizcaya during the Spanish-American War, dominates the Hampton Roads Naval Museum's Steel Navy gallery.  The original builder's model of the battleship Maine, with her actual ensign as a backdrop, rests at the end of the gallery.  Her mysterious, violent destruction in Havana harbor on February 15, 1898, helped precipitate the Spanish-American war (Photo by Jerome Kirkland).  

This apparent hex would be dispelled by her service in the Spanish-American War.  At the start of the war there was fear that the Spanish fleet might attack the east coast of the United States.  This resulted in the formation of the “Flying Squadron,” based out of Hampton Roads, which would be able to respond if the Spanish fleet showed up.  When it became apparent that the Spanish fleet was in Cuban waters, USS Texas--along with the rest of the Flying Squadron--was dispatched to Cuba.  Here the battleship played a key role in defeating the Spanish fleet at the Battle of Santiago de Cuba.  Engaging several Spanish ships, including the armored cruiser Vizcaya, she did much damage while taking only one hit from a 6-inch gun.

An enterprising yet unidentified Sailor poses aboard USS Texas after the Battle of Santiago de Cuba with a signal light salvaged from the Spanish cruiser Vizcaya, replacing the one destroyed during the battle. (Photo by Edward H. Hart/ Detroit Publishing Company. Library of Congress image via Naval History and Heritage Command/ Flickr)

 After the war several attempts to modernize her were made, but by 1911 USS Texas was simply too outdated.  She was renamed the San Marcos in order to free up the name Texas for a new modern battleship under construction.  In 1911, now named the San Marcos, she was towed to shallow waters in the Chesapeake Bay for use as a target to test the effectiveness of newer guns.  USS New Hampshire (BB-25), a Connecticut-class battleship commissioned in 1908, made several passes even after San Marcos settled on the muddy bottom with her deck still above the waves.  The results from this test helped the Navy understand the relationship between armor and modern guns.  San Marcos continued to be used as target practice through the post-WWII years.

Inspecting damage to the San Marcos armor after gunnery tests (Historic Ships blog).

After being sunk in the Chesapeake, San Marcos/Texas continued to rack up the “hits,” with at least seven ships damaged and at least three confirmed sinkings.  This post-service record far exceeded her wartime record.  Unfortunately, these were all commercial and private vessels that ran into her because she was not visible beneath the surface.  This prompted the Navy to use explosives to force her down into the mud at least 30’ below the surface in 1959.

Although USS Texas was outdated by the time she was launched, she was vital to the development of our modern steel Navy. The lessons learned in her construction and from her sinking supplied vital information in developing steel battleships.  Her service in war and as a target gave many lessons in effective combat skills.

For more about the sinking of San Marcos, please see Norfolk Naval Shipyard's History Matters blog post on the subject. 


This post was written by Hampton Roads Naval Museum Educator Jerome Kirkland.